Meteor explodes over New York City in rare daytime event

On Tuesday, July 16, residents of New York City witnessed a remarkable phenomenon. A small meteor flew over the city and then exploded above Manhattan. NASA confirmed the incident and released additional information about the object's characteristics.

According to a statement from NASA, the meteor that exploded over New York City on Tuesday was first detected about 78 kilometres above New York Harbor. It moved westward towards New Jersey at a speed of 61,000 kilometres per hour. The meteor flew over the Statue of Liberty before disintegrating about 47 kilometres above downtown Manhattan.

Witnesses of the event described seeing a bright fireball, hearing loud noises, and feeling "shocks" between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Bill Cooke from NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office confirmed that the incident indeed happened and highlighted its uniqueness. "Meteors are typically well-visible at night, not during the day, so this was a rare daytime bolide," he stated.

Interestingly, NASA initially did not track this object. In its statement, the agency explained the reasons. "We track asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth, but small rocks like the one this bolide came from are only about 30 centimetres in diameter and cannot survive the entire journey to the surface," the statement cited by American media reads.

"We are not able to track such small objects, so the only time we learn about their existence is when they hit the atmosphere and form a meteor or bolide," the agency representatives explained.